01.30.07

In accepting a $500K one-year deal (should he make the team), Sammy Sosa addressed the steroid issue head-on with reporters and Texas Rangers executives yesterday by, a) not showing up personally for his own press conference to answer questions, b) demanding questioners prove it, and c) not acknowledging that Ranger fans have legit questions. All of which means, imo, that a former Chicago Cub remains the only steroid-free single season home run king in baseball.

When Sosa last played in 2005, the seven-time All-Star hit .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs in 102 games for Baltimore. During spring training that year, Sosa was one of several players who testified before a congressional committee looking into steroid use in professional baseball.

There™s a lot of speculation, but no evidence, Sosa said.

He doesn™t think it™s his job to prove he accumulated his statistics without performance-enhancing substances.

I am not going to go to every fan™s home and knock on the door and say to them: ™Believe in me,™ he said. This is not my style.